, where christie went and embraced obama. that was a big deal. he was the main people surrogate for romney campaigning in the election for him to validate and say hey, this guy is doing a great job. didn't help days before the election. >> eric: big story. sandy. christie. two big stories. >> kimberly: yes. >> eric: juan, what about you, sir? actually i don't think there is any -- >> juan: i don't think there is any question. the big story of the year was the election. the big story here is the change in the way technology, media treats an election. i remember the debate. the first debate. won by romney. the way i was looking at it. obama is not doing bad. not doing great but basically you got to knock out the champ to beat him. it didn't see a knock-out. all my friends like sean hannity, i sit next two on twitter and they're scoring the debate minute by minute, everything going on in social media. in that case, romney was the winner. that's true with fundraising. each campaign raised $1 billion. how much money is that? for what? >> andrea: how could you think that obama was doing j

. the deadline to strike a deal is tomorrow.... or, the u-s plunges off the so- called fiscal cliff and possibly into an economic free fall. facing a dreaded combination of spending cuts and tax hikes... president obama made an appearance, on n-b-c's meet the press. "regardless of partisan differences, our top priority has to be to make sure that taxes on middle class families do not go up that would hurt our economy badly." democrats want to keep the bush-era tax cuts for everyone, except the wealthiest americans. just how wealthy?..is a major sticking point... with negotiations now focused on an income threshold around 400-to-500 thousand dollars. *republicans argue the problem isn't tax revenue...but spending. they want reforms to entitlements. but a proposal to change the way social security benefits are measured against inflation was pulled from the table. vice president joe biden -- talked to minority leader mitch mcconnell several times today...in an effort to break the stalemate. hopefully, the discussions between the vice president and senator mcconnell will get us back on

the economy? what do you say? with the deal what happens to the economy? without a deal what happens? >> some kind of deal, the economy continues to grow very slowly. we are doing all this spending to prop up the economy because the fundamentals are right. all of the things the obama administration has done have been anti growth, whether energy policy, trade with china, reregulation of wall street. and now this, taxing all those jobs creators, all those small businesses. i don't know why you would want to invest in this country now. gerri: let me ask you this. the congressional budget office has out its numbers. if the fiscal cliff hits they say u.s. gdp would shrink by half a percentage point and that unemployment will rise to over 9%. do you think they have the rights or are they just too conservative? will it be worse? >> if we actually went over the cliff we would be subtracted from domestic demand over $600 billion. that is about four percentage points in gdp. most economists were forecasting in the first half of next year hardly 2 percent growth. if you subtract 4% to spending

you about what ed henry was just reporting. president obama says either a deal is reached or you vote on the short-term stop gap measure. if republicans fail to pass it i'm summarizing it's their fault. so the president kind of tossing the ball into the republican's camp, placing blame on them. in your opinion s that presidential leadership? >> the republicans have gone after the president that he has deferred to congress on this is that he was unable to strike a deal between -- with speaker boehner and now it is to reid and mcconnell. on one hand, obama is criticizing the congress but also giving them the responsibility to come up with a deal. this is on his watch. obama does not want this going into next year. he wants to move quickly on immigration and energy and maybe gun control. so, but he has not been able to strike a deal with the speaker and that is -- you know, takes two to tango, both have to compromise. both have failed repeatedly on getting a debt deal both in the summer of 2011 and now. how to it is up to the senate which up until recently has been shoved to the sid

stop this, this is obama's deal, now he owns it. >> but they need to do better with communicating that exact message, really, if you look at what's going on here, obama has been persistent and bullheaded saying, it's my way or no way and i think he can wants to go over the cliff to demonize and at the same time bullying the middle class. >> and in the short-term run, that it is inevitable that the democrats will say you guys, you republicans, you put us offer the cliff because you were defending your rich millionaire friends, it's inevitable they will say that and that's a winning political line in the short-run. and over that, however, and you ask where is the leadership from this president, where is it? >> and here, stuart. >> doesn't he agree with you. >> americans with funny accent. let me ask you this question, explain to me and to the american people out there right now why you need to protect millionaires tax cuts in two sentences? >> okay, if you tax people over $250,000. >> wait a second, okay. >> tax them over a million, you might bring in on the best of years, you might

. they are saying no deal. president obama coming back to d.c. to fix what he broke in the first place. two solid years to deal with it. this is a gimmick, the flying back from hawaii to do this. nothing going over the fiscal cliff. let the tax cut expire. come back in, offer the tax cuts for people under 250. call them obama cuts and get it going. if you are in congress. you make $175,000 a year. you get vacation days off. they go back and smoke cigars, eat steak, drink wine and laugh. >> andrea: is there something wrong with eating and drinking? if with pay them to do it. >> eric: they want to hit the buffet line. >> andrea: do it on their own time. not when the country is in a financial crisis. i think obama gets a superhero cape after this. >> andrea: people say republican goes down either way on this. but the house and the senate, this last election by blaming republicans. does he think he will get blamed for this? no. he figures i can do whatever i want. leave the republicans out for dead. >> eric: he is winning the messaging game. that is clear. >> andrea: i say that with confid

tentative deal would extend bush era tax cuts for families making $450,000 a year and individuals making 40 o,000. it would also extend unemployment benefits for one year. president obama said he would have preferred a grand bargain that solves all of washington's revenue and spending problems. >> with this congress, that was obviously a little too much to hope for at this time. it may be we can do it in stages. >> reporter: negotiations have been going on all day, lawmakers and aids moving back and forth between meeting rooms on what is normally a quiet new year's eve. the major sticking point now is spending. the president suggested lawmakers take action on deficit reduction in the next few months and that more tax revenue could be involved in those discussions. but republicans are furious at that possibility. >> i'm willing to support revenue to deal with this problem. the overall problem. but what i will not agree to is using revenue to replace spending reductions. >> reporter: even if the senate frawfs deal by midnight the house still has to pass the measure before the president can si

committee to a point where any deal could be better than no deal. also, it could have been worse that is what we are hearing. dividends taxed at 23 percent with obama's health care rather than 43 percent, that is a sigh of relief. especially older people with fix the investment living east dividends. the big question to wall street is the debt ceiling. they are negotiating three month pause or one year pause. can you imagine how much deficit spending we can get in a year without a cap? >> i am thinking the stock market is because we have hours before the i ball drops, the calm before the storm and watch out wednesday. what do you think in. >> well, watch out wednesday, that is the point. if you look at market the last two weeks, people have been selling ahead of the deal so it is a sell the news type of issue. charles hit the point on the head. this is not a tax issue whether it is $450,000 or $500,000 or $1 million. it is the spending issue. the democrats want to raise the debt ceiling and do not want spending cuts cuts and no sequestration. >> what will happen on wednesday? >> again, i

be president for the next four years. >> president obama said a deal is in sight and appeared at a campaign style event to remind everyone he is winning and g.o.p. is not. >> last month, republicans in congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest americans. the agreement currently discussed would raise those rates, raise them permanently. >> republicans suggest the event may backfire to accuse the republican of rubbing their nose in defeat. >> the president won. we know that. he won fair and square. isn't it now time to govern? >> the president was out of line with his comments at 1:30 afternoon. this is a delegate time. i think the democrats would be embased after what the president did. >> after months of the president promising a balanced approach there are only tax hikes for rich without new spending cuts. today he hinted at more tax hikes ahead. warning republicans that the future deficit reduction will not come from cuts alone. >> if they think that is the formula for how we solve this thing, they have another thing coming. that is not how it will

. pizza hut's $10 any pizza deal is back. now, that's how you make it great. ♪ lou: more red tape. the associated press reported the obama administration iss quietly rolling out dozens of major new regulations now that the election and campaign scrutiny is over as if it were ever very powerful. the rules cover everything from greenhouse gas emissions to oil drilling ini wall street.et one of the more controversial provisions requiring all new cars to have bloc black boxes recording what caused the crash but privacy advocates argue itu is intrusive technology and it is likely toe abused. one of the government agencies that has earned a reputation fot abuse is the obamause administration epa. now suing the epa accusing it o repertory overreaching its efforts to control sentiments build up from a creek in fairfam county.f fox news correspondent now live in washington with the report. >> preventing an enormous amount of development just with this one regulation. >> environmental protectionv agen's's plan to regulate a single break in the commonwealt to cost state and county officials nearl

talkabou about talking but not sit down at the same table? what is wrong with obama and the they speaker? ris they really think this is aam? game? michael ramirez of investor's business daily joins us next. ♪ pizza hut's $10 any pizza deal is back. any pizza, toppings, sizes. ...ten bucks. the meat lover's pizza. ...ten bucks. delivery, dine in or carry. ...out of this world pizza. pizza hut's $10 any pizza deal is back. now, that's how you make it great. [beep] [indistinct chatter] [kids talking at once] [speaking foreign language] [heart beating] [heartbeat continues] [faint singing] [heartbeat, music playing louder] ♪ i'm feeling better since you know me ♪ ♪ i was a lonely soul, but that's the old me... ♪ announcer: this song was created th heartbeats of children in need. find out how it can help frontline health workers bring hope to millions of children at everybeatmatters.org. ♪ lou: our next guest says president obama see democracy as a form of social inequality. in a recent cartoon he draws a young barack obama at the blackboard. he is a two-time pulitzer priz

-called fiscal cliff. senate leaders spent the weekend working on a last-ditch deal and the house comes back today for a rare sunday night session. yesterday afternoon, in an exclusive interview, president obama sat down with me in the blue room of the white house. to discuss the way forward and his priorities for a second term. >> mr. president, welcome back to "meet the press." >> great to be here, thank you. >> the obvious question -- are we going over the fiscal cliff? >> well, i think we're going to find out in the next 48 hours what congress decides to do. but i think it's important for the american people to understand exactly what this fiscal cliff is. because it's actually not that complicated. the tax cuts that were introduced in 2001, 2003, 2010, those were extended and they're all about to expire at the end of the year. so on midnight, december 31st, if congress doesn't act, then everybody's taxes go up. and for the average family, that could mean a loss of $2,000 in income. for the entire economy, that means consumers have a lot less money to make purchases, which mea

. that's the final sticking point in the final hours of these negotiations. you heard president obama concede this is not a perfect deal. he said he wanted a big deal that dealt with both tax reform and deficit reduction. you also heard him talk about the fact that the new revenues would be hundreds of billions of dollars. what he initially wanted was about $1.6 trillion so this is a compromise on his part, as well. republicans initially coming, raising their offer so they kind of came to the middle on that point. but, again, the one sticking point that remains, the sequester and what negotiators continue to hammer out. vice president biden playing a key role in the negotiations having served more than 30 years in the senate. he knows how these types of negotiations get done. really, better than anyone. he, mitch mcconnell with whom he has a strong relationship, trying to take it to the finish line. >> i guess that's something given how many sticking points we were up against before. thank you so much. >> reporter: thanks. >> any deal from the 11th hour talks will be rushed through bo

. >> hello everyone. we are down to the wire and an impatient president obama is leaning on top lawmakers to cut a deal. senate leaders are rushing to hammer out a last ditch compromise. mike emmanuel is live with the latest on the negotiations. >> hi, molly it is it eye critical window. we are not expecting an announcement today, but they are trying to carve out a deal capable of winning bipartisan support. president obama said the u.s. can't afford a self inflicted wound to our economy. >> fortunate lie congress can prevent it from happening if they act right now. i had a good and constructive discussion with senate and house leadership about preventing the tax hike on the middle class and we should be able to reach an agreement to pass both house necessary time. >> senate leaders can't strike a deal. it would be a plan c. keeping tax cuts for those making $250,000 or less . extending unemployment benefits and delay dramatic spending cuts until later next year. >> they realize it is it a critical time. >> we are engaged in discussion majority leader and myself and the white house in the

themselves out of the story and nothing is a big deal to them when it happens to obama. >>> and two more, general petreas resigning after the scandal. >> the lesson is don't have a hot biographer. again, the petreas element to this is a sideshow but it wasn't a sideshow to the media because the media felt it was at this t. >> and why is anyone paying attention to this creep? it's a scandal he's considered talented. i would not share a hot tub with him, as kimberly said to me before this segment started. >> you know i love the hot tub. >> the problem is he has cache because he rapid anti-american lyrics. once you start talking about america in a negative way, that you gain leverage and respect in the entertainment community. he may act like he's story and maybe he is sorry but this helped him. >> and why did our president shake hands and legitimize him as an entertainer when he talks with killing blank yankees. >> the reason he did it because of the critics. he didn't do it because he thought it was okay to do it, he thought if fox news and everyone thinks it's negative, then i'm not goin

obama and lawmakers are heading back to washington. but do they have enough time left to strike a deal in congressmen tray joins us. hi, tray, a pleasure to see you tonight. >> you too. merry christmas. >> merry christmas. unfortunately we still have the fiscal cliff looming over our head. a lot going on. talk about whether or not we can't get some kind of bipartisan approach. there is some kind of discussion that there might be a deal coming up. tell us what you know. >> i assure you that there will be a resolution either before the new year or shortly after the new year. that's the good news, that there will be a deal. the bad news for you and your viewers is that there won't be a solution. it will be a pan sea or some magical elixor that makes us all feel better. but shortly after we will get a letter from geithner asking us to raise the debt ceiling for the 80th time in our country's history. there will be a deal to, quote, avert the fiscal cliff. your viewers should demand more than a deal, they should demand a solution. >> do you think it's the right idea to cave in if reall

tantaros, juliet huddy. this is "the five." >> kimberly: congressional leaders met with president obama at the white house in a last-ditch effort to come to agreement on the fiscal cliff but neither side is optimistic that a deal will be reached by the deadline. what will it mean for american people? eric? >> eric: well, i'm on the record saying we should name it the obama cliff and swan dive off of it. the only way the democrats will cut spending, because they're forceed in to it. if nothing happens, and the deal is not truck, people paycheck get smaller because the payroll taxes expire. people will have to pay in their taxes to a different way. the alternative minimum tax won't be patched and we'll have to be addressed as well. taxes will go up. spending cuts over time will happen as well. i think the stock market will be hit hard. i have the most to lose than anyone i know but the only way to fix the economy. >> eric: president obama wants tax cuts to expire for everyone except those making under $250,000 a year. john boehner plan "b" making $1 million. this looked like president oba

cliff deal the bad news taxes are going up regardless thanks to obama care. five new taxes due to obama care will start going into effect. they impact everything from healthcare costs to the cost of medical devices. the congressional budget office says americans will end up paying $1 million. the deadly attack in benghazi was tearrism. cia and other government agencies that made changes to the talking points on the attack not the white house. following the attack u.n. ambassador susan rice says they used the talking points may have been a spontaneous protest that got out of hand. >>> netflix users can now share every movie they have err watched with facebook plans. congress passed a bill allowing netflix and other video streaming sites to share viewing history. users will have the opportunity to opt in or out of the social sharing feature. >>> colorado had the first recreational pot club. months after it became legal private members only clubs popped up all over the state. it prohibits public smoke sgug include private clubs. they have an admission fee of $30 and they have to bring thei

should have done. should have a month ago agreed on some sort of deal on the tax cuts. then they should have hammered the president every single day on spending cuts. instead they got out maneuvered. spent all of the time arguing over taxes and now in the end obama is going to basically get everything he wants and the republicans will be left with almost nothing. >> chris: senator bayh? >> the president will get what he wants but as you pointed out previously and the previous panel pointed out it doesn't solve the problem. just raising taxes on the wealthy doesn't solve the debt problem. people will pivot and start focusing on that and as we approach the debt ceiling as we saw two years ago the republicans have more leverage. why? because at that point the president will be requesting to borrow another $2 trillion or $3 trillion and that doesn't poll well with the american people that is why the republicans have a stronger and then. at the have taken a step back here and conceded on tax rates but to focus a little later in two months on entitle month reform. >> chris: he has been saying

last-ditch deal and the house comes back today for a rare sunday night session. yesterday afternoon, in an exclusive interview, president obama sat down with me in the blue room of the white house to discuss the way forward and his priorities for a second term. >> mr. president, welcome back to "meet the press." >> great to be here, thank you. >> the obvious question -- are we going over the fiscal cliff? >> well, i think we're going to find out in the next 48 hours what congress decides to do. but i think it's important for the american people to understand exactly what this fiscal cliff is. because it's actually not that complicated. the tax cuts that were introduced in 2001, 2003, 2010, those were extended and they're all about to expire at the end of the year. so on midnight, december 31st, if congress doesn't act, then everybody's taxes go up. and for the average family, that could mean a loss of $2,000 in income. for the entire economy, that means consumers have a lot less money to make purchases, which means businesses are going to have a lot less customers, which means that

it may not be tonight. >> president obama putting pressure on lawmakers to reach a deal. mr. obama making remarks about the fiscal cliff aired it earlier today. he put much of the blame on shoulders of the republicans if no deal is reached. the gop fired back saying the president should lead right now not cast blame. correspondent s henry is live from the white house. >> he is frustrated going on a talk show today in the middle of the negotiations. he has not been on one of the programs since 2009. he felt it was important to get the message out there. you are right he was pounding the same message again and again f. we go up the fiscal cliff for not meeting them halfway. >>> not because democrats and congre congre congress don't want to go ahead and cooperate but i think it has been hard for speaker boehner and republican mcconnell to accept the fact taxes on wealthiest should go up a little bit sweas well as a deficit reduction package. if they can't say yes to good offers i have an obligation to make sure the entire burden of deficit reduction doesn't fall on seniors who are rel

victory lap. president obama said a deal is in sight. appeared at a campaign style event to remind everyone he is winning and the g.o.p. is not. >> just last month republicans in congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on 00 wealthiest americans. obviously the agreement is currently being discussed would raise those rates and raise them permanently. >> republicans suggested the event may back fire. accusing the president of rubbing their noses in defeat. >> time to stop the campaigning, the president won. we all know that. he won fair and square. but isn't it now time to govern? >> the president was absolutely out of line with his comments at 1:30 this afternoon. this is a very delicate time in the negotiations. i would think democrats would be embarrassed at what the president did. >> after months of the president promising a balanced approach, there are only tax hikes for the rich without any new spending cuts. and today he hinted at even more tax hikes ahead. warning republicans future deficit reduction will not come from cuts alone. >> if they think that's going

is "the five."ngre >>> congressional leaders met with president obama at the white house in a last ditch attempt to come to an agreement on how to avoid the looming fiscal cliff crisis. as the hours tick down, neither side is optimistic a deal wills be reach by the deadline.ti what will that mean for the american people?er eric? >> again, i'm on record assaying i was with you huddy s this morning saying we should name it the obama life and swan dive offit of it because it is the only way democrats will cut spending because they are forced into it.ap if a deal doesn't get struck the next couple of months people's pay checks will get smaller because payroll taxes will have expired. pay taxes a different way because the alternative minimum tax won't be patched and will have to be addressed as well. spending cuts over time willnk happen as well.st i think the stock market will get hit hard. here i am saying let's do thiss i have the most to lose of anyk one i know. it is the o only way to fix thh economy. economy. >> okay. take us through what each side is wanting. >> here's what the d

. take us through what each side is wanting. >> here's what the deal is. president obama wants tax cuts to expire for everyone except those making $250,000 a year. john boehner's plan "b" was anyone making under $1 million a year. neither seemed to work. it looked like president obottomma was coming back with the same deal, $250. they are miles apart. they are miles apart. >> there is a big divide. andrea, you were able to speak with a number of people on the hill. what reaction are you getting? >> well, the president has spread these stories and people in his administration that he is going to come to the table with a deal. we have been hearing that all week long. that did not happen. swan dive, we're going off the cliff. president obama wants us to go off. he is going to come back with a larger plan, the obama tax cuts. then he will be able to reinstate those across-the-board sequestration cuts to gut things like defense, national institutes of health. he will be able to reinstate a lot of programs and give his caucus the opportunity to say, look, i am voting for something and to

, i was with you this morning saying i think we should name it the obama cliff and i think we should swan dive off of it because it's the only way democrats will cut spending because they are forced into it. if nothing happens, if a deal isn't struck over the next couple of months, people's paychecks will get smaller because payroll taxes will have expired. peopleville to pay in because the alternative minimum tax won't be patched. taxes will go up. spending cuts over time will happen as well. the stock market, i think the stock market will be hit hard. but again, here i am saying, let's do this. i have the most to lose of anyone i know. it's the only way to fix the economy. it's the best thing for the economy. >> okay. take us through what each side is wanting. >> here's what the deal is. president obama wants tax cuts to expire for everyone except those making $250,000 a year. john boehner's plan "b" was anyone making under $1 million a year. neither seemed to work. it looked like president obottomma was coming back with the same deal, $250. they are miles apart. they are miles apa

wanting. >> here's what the deal is. president obama wants tax cuts to expire for everyone except those making $250,000 a year. john boehner's plan "b" was anyone making under $1 million a year. neither seemed to work. it looked like president obottomma was coming back with the same deal, $250. they are miles apart. they are miles apart. >> there is a big divide. andrea, you were able to speak with a number of people on the hill. what reaction are you getting? >> well, the president has spread these stories and people in his administration that he is going to come to the table with a deal. we have been hearing that all week long. that did not happen. swan dive, we're going off the cliff. president obama wants us to go off. he is going to come back with a larger plan, the obama tax cuts. then he will be able to reinstate those across-the-board sequestration cuts to gut things like defense, national institutes of health. he will be able to reinstate a lot of programs and give his caucus the opportunity to say, look, i am voting for something and to restore tax cuts for the middle class. i

would like to hear. here's the bottom line. even if they do get a deal at 450,000 or 500,000 or whatever that number is, barack obama will sign into law at some point a tax cut for millions of american people. they will no longer be the bush tax cuts. they will be the obama tax cuts from millions of medal class families all across this country. guess what, that's not a bad thing. >> the question is going to be what does he get for it, right? if he goes and increases the threshold to 4r50,000, what is the president getting? obviously, unemployment insurance is important, but what else has the president gotten in this negotiation? >> he hasn't gotten a lot. that's kind of the problem that i think a lot of liberals are saying. you saw jonathan's article. a lot of liberals are saying he is caving on taxes, getting very little in return, and the debt ceiling fight is three months away, and we're already seeing republicans openly saying, oh, yeah, we're going to fight over that too, and we're going to get what we want there. >> right. >> i think it's frankly pretty ridiculous to say h

. that's the subject of this evening's talking points memo. yesterday the obama administration announced that the president would cut short his hawaiian holiday to make one more attempt to work out a deal to overt the so-called fiscal cliff. in unison, his pals in the news media repeated this white house talking point. >> president obama cutting short his vacation in hawaii, heading back now to washington. that will happen tonight to work on the fiscal cliff deal. >> the looming fiscal cliff is forcing president obama to cut short his christmas vacation. >> president obama is cutting short his christmas vacation. he is leaving hawaii tonight so that he can be back in washington when congress reconvenes tomorrow. >> laura: so we should believe that by leaving his island enclave that the president was making some big sacrifice for the country? i'm thinking washington, crossing the delaware on a bitter christmas night 1776 before going on to defeat the british in two major battles, that's sacrifice. i, for one, never understood how in good conscious any of these politicians would

not reward compromise. the way these deals have happened in the past, with previous presidents and previous speakers and previous leaders is a compromise is rewarded by the public. and right now, whether it's president obama, whether it was speaker boehner, the two of them couldn't find a way to get to a deal because they didn't want to look like they were ever caving. and when you get to a point where it looks like you're caving on something, then there is negative political effects. now, that's why they've brought in vice president biden, mitch mcconnell, to try to close this thing. and they may close a deal, but there's no guarantee that even any deal they come to an agreement with tonight will actually make it tomorrow. >> and chuck, this congress has, your honor telling us, the lowest approval rating ever, the least productive. what happens when the next congress comes in later this week? >> reporter: well, the bad news is, if you view this as bad news, more of the same. because even if they get this temporary deal on taxes, temporarily buy down the automatic spending cuts, wh

republicans and house imploded and it's a tight spot. i suspect if there's a deal, it will be unpalatable for everyone. >> there was a interchange before the talks broke down. we have the quotes. john boehner said to obama, quote, i put $800 billion in tax revenue on the table. what do i get for that? allegedly we understand president obama came back to him and said, you get nothing. i get that for free. you get nothing. >> there were a couple eye-opening quotes. a "wall street journal" story before christmas that went through the timeline of how this happened between painer and the president -- boehner and the president. boehner put the rough knee on the table and the president saying that's what i get out of the gate. you get nothing for that, which was a surprise to the speaker. he said if we go over the cliff, that the president threatened boehner, he said i will use my inaugural address to blame you for tax increases and for the fiscal cliff going overboard. that brings out pretty big guns when it comes to a president's bully pulpit. if atlantes to use that to play politics, that's s

there's a deal,t will be unpalatable for everyone. >> there was a interchange before the talks broke wn. we have the quotes. john boehner said to obama, quote, iut $800 billio i tax revenue on the table. what do i get for that? allegedly we understand president obama came back to him and said, you get nothing. i get that for free. you get nothing. >> there were a couple eye-opening quotes. a "wall reet journal" story before christmas that went through the timeline of how this happened between painer and the president -- boehner and the president. boehner put the rough knee on the table and the president saying that's what i get out of the gate. you get nothing for that, which was a surprise to the speaker. he said if we go over the cliff, that the president threatened boehner, he said i will use my inaugural address to blame you for tax increases and for the fiscal cliff going overboard. that brings o pretty big guns when it comes to a president's bully pulpit. if atlantes to use that to play politics, that's significant. >> i have to bring this up. but how did they get to the point whe

, of course have no intention of doing that. especially after president obama won the election. senate democratic leadership aide tells me that will remains a 50/50 chance we will get a mini deal temporary extension of tax cuts under $250,000 before the january 1 deadline when we would go over the cliff. will are no assurances of that. a white house official told me as president obama prepares to fly back to conduct and participate in the negotiations at the end, there has been no progress over the holiday weekend. michelle, i'm afraid that people who are looking for a deal and looking for a deal by december 31, all hope is not lost. it is not looking good at the moment. >> let's go back to this hitting the debt ceiling on monday. we learned of this because treasury secretary tim good night mother sent a letter to the honorable harry reid majority leader. and that's where he outline it is fact that in three business days, the summit government is going to run out of borrowing capacity. john, if there were a treasurer in a business who went to their boss and said by the way, three busin

eve in order to deal with this mess. lou: was named david axelrod who said see you later. it turns out mr. obama was paying attention. ed henry, fox news chief white house correspondent. president obama nominating senator john kerry to be the next secretary of state, claiming his entire life has prepared him for this role to lead america's foreign policy. >> over these many years he has -arned the respect and confidence of leaders around the world. he will not need a lot of on-the-job training and has earned the respect and trust of senate colleagues, democrats and republicans. fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers or grass our foreign policies as irmly as john kerry, and this makes him a perfect choice to get american diplomacy in the years ahead. lou: and high praise for one of the people of this administration from this job was a natural, obviously coming after susan rice, ambassador rice was, well, withdrew her name from consideration. joining us now, former pentagon official, fox is security analyst, former u.s. ambassador to the united n